Superbowl is just a fond memory....

The stitchers arrived beginning with Debbie and Phyllis on Tuesday and the rest of the Pennsylvania retreat arrived on Thursday. The local stitchers arrived on Friday along with the Baltimore group and Stacy Stinson. Friday many of the stitchers attended a tea in Berlin, which gave Sara and I time to get some shipments marked and ready for the weekend of shopping, as well as time to pull the first of the Superbowl orders off the computer. Then Friday night the Superbowl reception festivities at Sara's house, along with the celebration of Phyllis impending birthday began. The food was excellent, but we've come to suspect that, but it was the gathering of all the stitchers, including (Greg MacCord who is joining us for this weekend of fun....he's become our token male) the exchange of information, the excitement about the upcoming projects that really makes these receptions fun. We don't get to spend as much time in the shop with all the stitchers that we'd like to...so this also gives Sara and I time to meet and greet. We hadn't seen Pat Wright in a long time and she was in attendance so it was nice to see her once again, and Jackie Janovsky who blew out her knee and missed our Christmas dinner was able to get here. We did miss our Kay Fletcher who wasn't able to attend, and our Candi and Linda who also missed the festivities, but we carried on bravely without them. I left early as my grandson, Michael, wanted to spend the night with me and he was driving Sara crazy so I figured I better get him out of there before he drove her to drink...well, it was a little late for that as she had already begun, but who could blame her, parties can be stressful when they are at your house. I'm so thankful for Sara, there's never even a question as to who will be throwing the receptions...she just does it. Saturday the Superbowl sale continued, of course. The shopping bags began lining up and the filling of them continued throughout the weekend. It's so much fun to see what the stitchers are gathering for their latest projects. And thankfully some of the latest designs have arrived so they were snatched up. The latest Little House Needleworks designs are absolutely wonderful...how does she do it so quickly? The newest Ornament Series is here and I haven't even finished 2010 ornament series. I'd better get to stitching if I'm ever to catch up. Whoops, who am I kidding, I'll never get caught up to this madness, but I'm having a ball trying. Every time someone asks for a chart I then have to look for, I find more designs I want to stitch. I'm filling up a bag faster than anyone else. Whoppee!!!!! Right now I'm still working on my Lauren Sauer class piece, but it's coming right alone. It's a joy to work as the design is a repetition and once you get the count down you no longer have to look at your chart. With the Betsy Morgan pre-stitch done I'm going to have all my pre-stitching done long before class starts....another Whoop, although I had a goal of having Lauren's piece done before Nashville and I'm sorry to say that is definitely not going to happen, but at least I'm moving along nicely. Jayne stitched the over one on gauze Erica Michaels Valentine piece while here, in 2 days, and it is so adorable that entire gauze series is now resting in my tote bag. Gosh, and Nashville is now just days away, in fact Sara and I leave on Tuesday morning. Renee, Pat and Connie will be in the shop in our place so you can still visit. I'll be taking my computer, as usual, to Nashville and hopefully I can figure out how to get on-line, etc., and can let you know what we are finding. We're both so excited. There are some marvelous pieces coming out...we've had a preview so for the first time in a few years I really can't wait to get there. But for now we're busy getting the Superbowl mail orders out....and bills paid before leaving...I just hate the few days before leaving because I'm trying to get my house in order and the office in order (I have a better chance of becoming President of the U.S. than achieving everything on my list). To make matters even worse, last night...when it snowed here...just 1/2 inch but snow and freezing temperatures....I had no heat. I'm telling you if it wasn't for Mary Porter's quilt I'd have frozen. But I went to bed early and covered my self with Mary's quilt and another quilt and I slept until morning when Vernon came over and got the heat back on. But, oh, baby I thought I'd freeze to death. But tonight I've got plenty of heat and I'm thawed out so I'm a happy camper again. And I want to say "Thank You" to all of you who came by for the sale, called in an order or e-mailed an order. Sara and I appreciate it all and thank you for it. You helped make a wonderful event for us.